Italy: ‘The tragedy is that it’s no longer a tragedy’, a disillusioned press

For the third time in a row, Italy will not be competing in the World Cup. But can we really call it a shock? The disillusioned Italian press seems to have given up all hope for a Squadra Azzurra that is now merely a shadow of its former self from the early 2000s.

Never two without three. Beaten by Bosnia and Herzegovina (1-1, 1-4 on penalties) on Tuesday, Italy will not be taking part in the 2026 World Cup, having already failed to qualify in 2018 and then in 2022. Can we still call this a surprise?

It’s hard to say, given that the Squadra Azzurra’s decline has been confirmed year after year; their last knockout match in a World Cup dates back to… 2006, when they won the final against France (1-1, 5-3 on penalties).

“The tragedy is that it’s no longer a tragedy”

The disillusioned Italian press clearly expects nothing more from a Squadra Azzurra that is now merely a shadow of its glorious four-star past. “What a disaster!”, ran the headline in La Gazzetta dello Sport, for example, even referring to an “endless nightmare, an apocalypse”, before tempering the shock in an editorial that could not be more realistic: “The third apocalypse is terrible, because you have two behind you. It has lost the sense of shock, of the unforeseeable catastrophe. It is becoming the norm.”

La Repubblica echoes this sentiment: “The tragedy is that it is no longer a tragedy, but a habit. This is who we are. We are little more than nothing and we are out. (…) More than a disgrace, it is a disappearance,” analyses the daily, somewhat relieved that Gennaro Gattuso’s team did not push the humiliation any further: “A victory would have pushed the Nazionale beyond its weaknesses. The defeat halts the narrative and forces us to look back.”

Calls for change

“Since the 2006 final, twenty years of disappointments and setbacks for Italy. Missing out on the World Cup is becoming the norm: it reflects an endless crisis,” points out La Stampa, whilst Tuttosport calls for “everyone to leave”. “A third World Cup as spectators must have consequences at every level. We cannot shy away from the mistakes, the responsibilities and the condemnation,” continues the Turin-based newspaper. The conclusion from Corriere dello Sport: “Everyone home”, and not to America.